Your kid is acting like a creep – deal with it

“Oh, she has such a nice life! Why am I not as happy/active/smart/lucky as her?” “Did you hear that…?””Oh, s**t **** **** that really hurts!” Recognise the behaviour? Jealousy, the urge to gossip and bad language are behaviours and feelings that most grown-ups, including yours truly, deal with on a regular basis. It is not something we are particularly proud of, but we all have those feelings every once in awhile. Nothing weird about that, as long as you keep it to yourself and don’t let it out on others.

However, adults often expect children not to be jealous, not to gossip or use bad language – but to somehow stand above behaviour that can hurt others. They think that children don’t have the behaviours and feelings that can be hurtful. Well, sometimes they think that children do, but maybe not their kids.

Sometimes I talk to parents who have a really difficult time accepting that their children are behaving badly on Momio. They tell me that their children would never use bad language or be mean to others. Yet, kids are mean to each other sometimes. They get really jealous of other children and write all the nasty words they know – just to try them.

The problem is not that the kids are pushing boundaries or are jealous. However, there is a problem if we don’t teach them WHY they have these feelings and HOW expressing them can hurt others.

We think that it is important that the grown-up society acknowledges and accepts children’s’ “flaws”, just as much as we acknowledge those of adults. Kids are not perfect, and they are not supposed to be. Just think about it: If we live in the constant belief that our kids never feel or act badly in any way, who will teach them what to do when they actually do feel or act like this towards others?

About the author:

Johanna Ternander, Momio

Johanna is the Swedish Community Manager and has worked for Momio since 2016. Besides Community Manager tasks, she also handles Momio’s external social media channels. With a Master’s degree in Media Studies, she has a deep interest in exploring the social media phenomenon – from blogs to cute animal videos.